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There's no denying 2012 has been a fruitful year for Linux distributions in general, but something about it has also seemed to favor the rebirth of distros we hadn't heard from in years.

Two cases in point: Back in August we saw the widely celebrated return of Damn Small LinuxA after four years of silence, and just this week another very similar event happened.

Specifically, following three years without any new releases, Slax Linux on Monday graduated to Version 7.0.

"I'm happy to announce the final release of Slax version 7.0, code name Green Horn," reads the official announcement on the Slax website. "After more than three years of silence, Slax is back in action and is better than ever before."

A 210 MB download

For those who aren't familiar with it already, Slax is a bootable CD based on Slackware Linux but with a wide variety of preinstalled software and a graphical user interface as well as recovery tools for systems administrators.

Version 7.0 includes the newest Linux kernel along with the KDE4 desktop, the GCC compiler, and "lots of other stuff," all in a download that's just 210MB or so in size.

Slax is also available in more than 50 languages and includes translations, keyboard mappings, fonts, and system settings for each localization.

Not only that, but its modular approach "gives you the ability to include any other software in Slax easily," the software's developers explain. "If you're missing your favorite text editor, networking tool, or game, simply download a module with the software and copy it to Slax, no need to install, no need to configure."

A preinstalled USB for $25

Slax 7.0 is now available as a free download. In addition, however, you can order a 16GB flash drive with Slax preinstalled for $25.

There's also Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux, of course. But if you have some older hardware you'd like to revive, this could be a nice option to try out.

This story, "After three years, Slax Linux reborn with Version 7.0" was originally published by
PCWorld.

Katherine Noyes has been an ardent geek ever since she first conquered Pyramid of Doom on an ancient TRS-80. Today she covers enterprise software in all its forms, with an emphasis on Linux and open source software.